Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Kocho Mixed with Whole Soybean and Okara

Abstract

Kocho (flat bread) is one of the food products made from enset, a staple food consumed by about 20% of the Ethiopian population. It is good sources of minerals, vitamins and carbohydrate, but low in protein and fat contents. Formulation of kocho with protein and fat rich sources like soybean can makes it nutrient dense food. Thus, the study was aimed to formulate kocho with soybean flour and okara, and evaluate its nutritional value and sensory acceptance. Kocho was mixed with whole soybean and okara flours in seven different proportions. Five point hedonic scales and AOAC methods were used to evaluate the sensory quality and proximate analysis of kocho samples respectively. Sensory evaluation results showed that all the formulations were in the acceptable range. Moisture, ash, fat, protein, fiber and carbohydrate contents of kocho was in the range of 6.81-9.41, 2.85-5.50, 3.87-10.08, 3.32-14.82, 1.61-2.98 and 60.36-78.29%, respectively. The addition of both whole soybean and okara significantly increased the protein and fat contents. Therefore, it is possible to improve nutritional quality of kocho by partially substituting with soybean flour and okara without considerable effect on consumer acceptance of the product. The substitution level evaluated in the current study was only up to 25% and further study is required to investigate the impact of more substitution levels.